North of the Border

I am fond of saying, "You can't throw a rock in Maine without hitting something beautiful or historic." The quintessential New England-style building pictured above (which is certainly beautiful and may be historic) is the home of North of the Border, a wonderful combination garden center and gift shop in Wiscasset.

We drove past it on our way from the airport in Portland to Rockland (we had not yet discovered Cape Air) and it was the cause of the first of many U-turns on our inaugural  trip to the Mid Coast.

Their artful display of mums and pumpkins, a large assortment of statuary and other garden ornaments, and a huge large mound of old lobster traps kept us browsing there for quite a while. There is so much to look at!

This year we returned to purchase a lobster trap to use as a coffee table (shown below) in the den of  Elijah H. Hall House. We love the weathered wood and knowing that the trap was once a part of Maine's proud lobstering heritage.

It's a fair distance from Rockland to Wiscasset (34 miles), so consider combining a trip to North of the Border with a visit to Boothbay or Pemaquid Point Lighthouse. Be sure to bring your camera (in fact, never go anywhere in Maine without your camera) to capture images of things beautiful and historic that you'll hit with any rock you toss.